Jennifer Laycock

I scan hundreds of feeds and read dozens of articles each day so you don't have to. From building a slow and natural link profile to the ethics of sponsored blog posts, find out which articles I dubbed as must-read for the small business crowd today.

I love John Jantsch's post from last week about how social media is a tool and not a religion. John hits the nail on the head when he points out the need to use common sense while exploring social media outlets but not letting fear get in the way of exploration. I hear from far too many small businesses who are terrified of getting into social media because they think they'll "do it wrong" and get themselves in trouble. There's nothing wrong with finding ways to use these tools to build your business, nothing. Just listen to folks like John and remember to use your common sense.

Peter Kim has compiled a list of social media predictions for 2009 from some of the best and brightest in the industry. You can download the full spectrum of thoughts on 2009 social media changes in PDF form. It's a good read and has both expected predictions and surprising ones. Overall, I'd wager any company looking to expand or explore social media marketing next year should give it at least a quick read.

If you're trying to catch up on some of the great viral videos from this year, you'll want to check out Time Magazine's list of the Top 10 Viral Videos of 2008. Now I'm not personally sure these would count as the "top ten" in my book, especially since I had never even heard of some of them, but I must admit I'm fighting the temptation to head to Expedia.com after watching "Where the Hell is Matt" again.

Heard a great comment from Todd Friesan at SES last week about how he'd rather have one really great link than a ton of average links. A simple truth, but one forgotten by far too many online marketers. If you're working on your link building plan for next year, you may want to read over a post called "The Secret to Making Every Link Count for Your SEO Rankings" over at Winning the Web.

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About the Author

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, the Social Media Faculty Chair for MarketMotive and offers small business social media strategy & consulting. Jennifer enjoys the challenge of finding unique and creative ways to connect with consumers without spending a fortune in marketing dollars. Though she now prefers to work with small businesses, Jennifer’s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children.

Comments(2)

Hey Jennifer,
Thanks for the mention of Winning the Web in your post. I saw you speaking at the viral campaigns session at SES last week and I thought you did a great job. You seem very knowledgeable and you're a great public speaker. Hope that I can meet you next time.

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